HILLTOWNS  A 24-day road closure on Route 156 will limit access to the Hilltowns from Altamont as the New York State Department of Transportation repairs a culvert as part of a larger project.

The roadwork on 156, which will technically take place in Knox, will begin on June 20, and will continue through July 13.

“I don’t have a breakdown of how much will be spent on this culvert, but it’s going to be a culvert replacement,” Carol Breen, a spokesperson for the DOT, told on The Enterprise Wednesday. The entire project, which will cost $1 million to replace culvert pipes around the Capital Region, has been awarded to Orchard Earth and Pipe.

“We have culvert projects every year where we go in and repair or replace culverts in different places in the region,” said Breen. Culverts are drains that cross under roads or embankments. “When we have a group of the same type of projects that don’t cost too much, it’s easier to just group them together. And we’re always inspecting our culverts, so we have a good read on what’s still in good condition, and where we need to put those funds.”

This project will be paid for entirely by state funds, she said.

“In most of our bigger capital projects, like reconstructing a road, or repairing a bridge, those are usually at least 80-percent federally funded,” Breen said. “But, in something like this, we’re given state funds to do a lot of these smaller projects.”